Genpact enters into multi-year contract with Hikari Tsushin of Japan

As a part of its expansion measures in Japan, Genpact, the leading intermediary business process outsourcing (BPO) company of India, has stated that it has entered into a multiple year agreement with Hikari Tushin Inc., Tokyo, an entirely owned auxiliary of Hello Communications.

While the firm did not reveal the worth of the deal, Genpact CEO Pramod Bhasin clarified that as in the instance of majority of the agreements for back-office operations, their agreement would begin on a small scale and expand gradually. According to a report published in a leading English business daily in India, the agreement includes three different natures of services, including customer service, finance and accounting and IT infrastructure. The deal also incorporates Hikari’s operations in China, where the Japanese firm is expanding footprint. Another website reports that the contract is likely to be between three to five years.

Elaborating on the multi-year deal, Bhasin said that presently Japan has emerged as the second largest market for IT and BPO services and it is still getting underway, although not in a very momentous manner. According to the Genpact CEO, the deal with Hikari will not only provide a boost to his company’s operations, but also help it to set foot in Japan, and more importantly, in China. Now, Genpact is looking forward to the prospects of setting up additional operational hubs in China during the ensuing months.

Genpact, which currently has approximately 3500 employees on its rolls in China, has offices in four cities of this Communist country – Beijing, Shanghai, Dalian and Chanchun. Interestingly enough, most of the back-office service providers employees in China are dedicated to the IT and BPO market in Japan. In fact, Genpact was one of the first Indian outsourcing firms to establish delivery hubs in China and has been operating in the Communist nation for the last one decade. Acknowledging this, Bhasin said that approximately 75 per cent of its services from China are dedicated to the Japanese market.

Meanwhile, the Hikari’s association with Genpact will help the Japanese firm to offer inexpensive services to its Japanese clients from China and also enable it to venture out into the rapidly developing Chinese market. Hello Communications Inc. CEO Shigetaro Toyoda expressed his pleasure over the deal with Genpact saying that it would help the company to utilize the clout of the Indian back-office services firm’s expertise and process control to tender the best services to its clients.